He's there in the meetings that drive the White House operation, answering legal questions when they come up.
When customers wondered if McDonalds used pink goop in its Chicken McNuggets, its Canadian operation answered with a video that transparently answered those concerns by explaining what the nuggets actually contained.
For example: "Were you in the area that was affected by the war/military operation?" Answer categories were dichotomous.
Marc Frons, chief technology officer, digital operations, answered questions July 28-Aug.
William Luti, a former navy officer and ex-aide to Mr Cheney, runs the day-to-day operations, answering to Douglas Feith, a defence undersecretary and a former Reagan official.
Once he entered the room, requiring the aid of a cane after several spinal operations, answering questions in a halting voice that sounded like pain, he was no longer a dark secret, but more of an ominous cloud in the typically blue Super Bowl sky.
Mattis, asked a question by a Johns Hopkins student about whether a shutdown would have serious ramifications on military operations, answered bluntly: "Yes". Then he gave an example involving military reservists, saying some of them will be sent home instead of completing their monthly training.
For a question about iPad operation, eight answered 'easy' while eight answered 'difficult', and the ratio of those who answered difficult was almost half in every workshop.
The patients were finally asked if they were satisfied with the result of the UKA operation (4 answer categories in an ordinal scale from "very satisfied" to "dissatisfied"), and how they rated their overall knee status (5 answers categorized in an ordinal scale from "the knee functions much better" to "the knee functions worse").
Mr. McCain said his doctors would meet with reporters on Saturday after the operation to answer questions.
